


You don’t have to hide, I’ll be by your side

by voices_in_my_head



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Day 3, Jetko Renaissance Week, prompt: promises, you thought I was soft and corny as hell yesterday? just you wait to read this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:34:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27118279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voices_in_my_head/pseuds/voices_in_my_head
Summary: "Jet isn’t good at love, he doesn’t think. Which makes him and Zuko kind of perfect for each other, especially when they first meet, because Zuko isn’t all that good at love either.His uncle looks at him like he’d fight an army for him and Zuko is rude to him, even though it’s obvious he’d do the same for him, he just doesn’t know how to say it."
Relationships: Jet/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 64
Collections: Jetko Renaissance Week





	You don’t have to hide, I’ll be by your side

Jet hasn’t really spent much time thinking about love. He doesn’t remember ever learning the meaning of the word, though he remembers his parents saying it to him and to each other. He remembers saying it back, smiling, feeling happy.

He remembers saying it to their graves, empty, since there hadn’t been anything to bury, not feeling happy anymore, feeling more like he was about to explode, like there was something inside him ready to tear his stomach apart to be let out.

What Jet does remember from that time is that love isn’t just good, love hurts too. He can’t help but to keep his Freedom Fighters some distance away, because while he’s prepared to kill and to die for them, he’s not prepared to see them die in front of him, even as he leads them into dangerous missions.

And then he loses them anyway, not to death, but because things fall apart and what once felt never-ending, like they would all live in the forest together forever, doing their own little part of the fighting in the war, disintegrates, and Jet learns that death isn’t the only thing that takes people away from one’s life.

Jet isn’t good at love, he doesn’t think. Which makes him and Zuko kind of perfect for each other, especially when they first meet, because Zuko isn’t all that good at love either.

His uncle looks at him like he’d fight an army for him and Zuko is rude to him, even though it’s obvious he’d do the same for him, he just doesn’t know how to say it. And he speaks of his parents with love in his voice, but pain too and once Jet knows all the truth, he kind of wants to shake him, tell him they don’t deserve his love.

That’s something else Jet learns about love: sometimes the person you love doesn’t deserve it.

For a while, he thinks Zuko doesn’t deserve his love, not when he learns the truth, when he knows just who he is, but eventually, he goes back, and he asks _“why didn’t you tell me?”_ angrily, because the only other option is to show how sad, how betrayed, how defeated he feels and Jet has never been good at that.

 _“I was afraid,”_ Zuko replies and he sounds sad, but he speaks with his head raised high, unashamed.

And Jet gets given another lesson about love: that sometimes one is afraid because of it. Not simply of the possibility of losing it, but for how it makes you feel.

And it can make you angry and stupid and so many other things that Jet sometimes wonders how people can just live their lives and not feel like they’re dragging something behind them, a heavy bracelet around their ankles weighting down every step.

Because sometimes Jet does feel like he isn’t going to handle it.

Zuko tells him _“I don’t want you to leave”_ and so Jet doesn’t. And then he follows him to the Fire Nation, even though he has no idea what the hell he’s doing in it, can see the way people stare, how they know he doesn’t belong.

And Jet tries not to panic as the rumors get louder, both from nobles unashamed of being heard and gossiping servants, sure that it won’t be long before Zuko decides that no matter how much they love each other, it simply isn’t _enough_. Because Jet isn’t highborn, isn’t Fire Nation, can’t give him children… For a hundred and one reasons.

But what Zuko says – Jet only hearing it second-thirdly-hand – when it finally comes to a head, when a noble tells him something like _“it’s time you marry a proper Fire Nation lady”_ is _“I’m marrying Jet. And if you don’t accept it, you can find another Fire Lord.”_

Jet doesn’t believe the stories, the Palace abuzz with it for the whole day, barely anything else being discussed. The servants and the guards, of course, stop when they see him, but Jet has always been good at staying hidden (if not quite as good as Zuko) and it isn’t hard to hear more and more versions of the story.

Sometimes the noble says something uglier, sometimes there’s a fight. But what never changes are Zuko’s words: _I’m not choosing anyone else._

And the thing is, as much as Jet’s heart feels like exploding of love, as much as he wants to find Zuko and hold him and never let go, he also feels like crumbling down because how can he ever be worthy of so much?

Zuko didn’t take the Fire Nation crown because he wanted it. He did it because it had been the right thing to do. His uncle wasn’t accepting it, Azula was in no condition even if anyone were to accept it, and everyone else on the list – highborn nobles, second-generation cousins… Well, Zuko hadn’t trusted them to truly put an end to the war, to lead the Fire Nation not in the direction they wanted, but in the direction they _must_.

And now, Zuko is willing to give it all up. For Jet.

Jet, who once almost killed a village of innocents, believing he’d been doing the right thing. Jet, who had mistrusted Zuko and his uncle for weeks after meeting them, even though all he saw them do was work in a tea shop. Jet, who… Had left the Earth Nation and everything he’d ever known for Zuko.

That’s something else Jet learns about love: you make choices you never thought you’d do.

It’s only at dinner that Jet and Zuko finally see each other, the servants putting down their food and drinks slower than usual, clearly hoping that they’ll talk before they’re alone. But Jet is unwilling to do it and Zuko looks… Well, normal, honestly.

And they have a normal meal. Zuko talks about the peace treaties still going on with the Earth Kingdom, then about how Aang and Toph should be visiting soon – Sokka and Katara staying in the Southern Water Tribe for talks with the Northern Water Tribe – and then asks Jet about his day.

 _“It was normal,”_ Jet answers, feeling slightly hysterical, because is Zuko really going to act like nothing abnormal had happened?

Apparently, yes. They finish their meal. The servants come back, one looking quite disappointed and Jet should really talk to Zuko about getting the dining room soundproofed, and then they retire to their room.

Finally, Jet isn’t able to keep quiet anymore.

“I know what happened today,” he says, sitting down in their bed, a bigger one than Jet has ever known in his entire life.

“What happened today?” Zuko asks, turning from where he’d been disrobing, left in a simple shirt and pants, feet uncovered and Jet can’t quite look away from his toes, even though it’s not like the sight’s abnormal. “What happened today, Jet?” Zuko asks a second time, patient, maybe a bit curious, and Jet turns his eyes up.

“With the noble,” he forces out, because Zuko is acting like everything is normal, so maybe things didn’t go down exactly as Jet heard. Suddenly, he’s gripped by this feral panic that if he says the words _“you said you’d give up your Crown for me”_ Zuko will look at him like he’s lost his mind, say _“I would never.”_

“Oh, that,” Zuko says and he sounds… Nervous. Jet frowns, not understanding what Zuko has to be nervous about. Zuko walks towards him, sits down beside him, moves so that he has one leg on the bed, bent at the knee, toes touching Jet’s thigh. Jet turns so that they’re staring at each other. “That wasn’t how I wanted you to know.”

Jet frowns, feeling quite lost in the conversation.

Zuko grabs one of his hands, takes a deep breath, like he’s getting ready for battle. “Will you marry me?”

“What?” Jet asks, dumb-footed.

“I know I probably should have started with a speech, but I got nervous,” Zuko is babbling. His cheeks are red too, from a blush.

Jet blinks, sure that what he’s hearing isn’t what’s actually being said.

“Your Council doesn’t want you to marry me.”

Zuko stops talking, closes his mouth with a clack. Then he frowns, “I don’t care what they want.”

Jet takes a deep breath, “I heard you told them if they didn’t let us marry, they could find another Fire Lord.”

Zuko is still blushing, like he has anything to be embarrassed about. “Yeah, I did.”

“Why?” Jet asks and now Zuko is frowning again. Not angry, just… confused. More than confused; like he doesn’t understand how Jet isn’t understanding what he’s saying. “Why would you do that… for me?” Jet forces the words out.

“Jet…” Zuko starts, voice soft. Then he leans forward, puts their foreheads against each other and sighs against Jet’s face. “Because you can’t be a good Fire Lord without a heart. And if I’m not with you… Then it would be the same as not having one.”

Jet blinks, wants to smile and laugh and say _“that’s the sappiest thing I’ve ever heard”_ but forces himself to just take a breath, to think. But, actually, it turns out what he has to say doesn’t really need a lot of time to be thought of: “you have my heart too.”

Zuko raises his head so that they can look each other in the eye. “Is that a yes?”

“Yes,” Jet says, doesn’t let himself start to doubt if this is the right thing to do, what the consequences will be for the world – because, somehow, his love has an impact on the world.

Zuko smiles, one of those big ones, the type that don’t actually come out that often, and then he’s kissing Jet, going at him with so much strength that Jet falls back on the bed, legs still dangling off it, but he doesn’t care.

He raises his hands and puts them on Zuko’s cheek, kisses him with fervour, whispers _“I love you”_ over and over again.

 _“I love you too,”_ he gets back. _“I promise.”_

Jet doesn’t know exactly how love starts. He can’t remember the exact moment he started loving Zuko, is sure he was dragged into it kicking and screaming. But what he does know is that he’s going to make damn sure it never ends.

Because it hurts and it makes him feel afraid and sometimes even inadequate and almost frozen from so many feelings inside himself, but mostly, it makes him feel alive.

It’s not a feeling Jet is going to let go.


End file.
